Manicure brush



July 12, 1949. SPEARS 2,475,645

MANICURE BRUSH Filed Nov. 23, 1945 INVENTOR HAP/P) SPEAQS ATTORNEY neatappearance of the Patented July 12, 1949 :umrEi-o enmsm 25475545 ,MAICURE BRUSH Harry SpearsyNew YorkiN. Y. =A piicationl-ioyemter 23, 1945,SeriaLNo- 63939.3

IGlaim.

This invention, relates generally tothe field of cosmetics and moreparticularlygto a brush for the application ,of fluid materials whichare coated upon the usergnails. It has beenconsidered highly desirableto ,place a transparent or pigmented coatingupon the outer surface ofthe users nails so thatsai'd coatingcompletely covers the nail ,toprotect and embellish it. On the other hand, ithasbeenconsideredflhighly undesirable tohave, the nail coating lyingupon the surface of the user's shin bordering the nail. This is sobecause where ,the ,materialispigmented the estheticallydesirablepattern or outline of the finger nail is given a rough and unsightlyedge and whil-e the :ef'fectrisvnot so pronounced when the coating istransparent the otherwise finger tips is spoiled. Furthermore, Where thecoatingis'allowed toremain on the-userfs skin radiacentzthe nail, thismay be, accompanied by an undesirable ,eifect such as;itching orirritation.

It hasgbeen proposed heretofore to usevarious masks and shields toconfinethe ;coating: to; predetermined areas, but-these are open,toman-y objections among which are first; that'jthe ;configuration ofvarious-users nails 'difier requiring additional shaping of :the mask,:secondly, that the masks are a bothenandnuisance to,pla,c,e and remove,and thirdly, unless the mask adheres perfectly, a slight from the skinbeneath it causes the coating to be attracted by capillarity into theparticular area which it is desired to protect from the coatmg.

At the present time the most widely used method of applying coatings tothe finger nails is that of the brush and particularly a brush which isintegral with the cork or closure of the bottle containing the coatingin liquid form. Such brushes are usually soft and pointed and thesoftness thereof is increased by the softening action of the solventmaterial of the coating, in which the brush rests during the periodsbetween uses. The result of this is that when the coating is appliedwith such brush, the brush is very flabby and hard to control and thecoating or lacquer is unevenly distributed with ragged edges andfrequently gets upon the cuticle. order to remedy this, the excessportion of lacquer is manually wiped away frequently lea It is,therefore, among the objects of the presseparation of the mask f2 entinvention to gpIUYldByfl manicure brush "or lacquer, a plicator, whichby-ygirtue of- 'the shape and construction thereof, facilitates atheapplication of ,the "coating to -th-e na-ilw enabling *the user'toproducea -neatresult and avoiding unwanted coating upon the cuticleaboutthe nail.

Another object --herein lies-iin the 'provision of a lacquerapplicatoror manicure brush with which the application tofaecoatingewith curved or Straight line edges readily? obtained:utilizinga* lesser-degreeof skill.

Another object hereinFl-iesiin theeprovision of structure of the classdescribedewhich-mayumaintain its I efiiciency for relativelyilongwperiods.

"These objects andcotheri incidental sends :and advantages: w-ill morefullyeappearlinithe progress of this disclosuresandrbe pointedzoutwinicthe rappended claim.

In :the drawings 2 in -.=whichssimi1ar reference characters designatescar-responding ;parts .;thro.ughout ithe severalwiews:

@Eigure Iii-ls aifrontgzelevationahyiew:ofraz manicure brush showing apreferred; embodiment rO ;the:.invention.

, Eigure 2;,isiatviewiinperspective-pfthe d i shown insiFigure ,;1i;asorporated with za-zcon- :iainer for liquid ne ating, ewhichiisa indicatd by .zd dashc ines.

Fi ure -,3is lairear ae erationa view .Q i the .dehcwnt EIienre 'ie-u i4 is ca me ged ra ment r a l vational view corresponding generally toFigure 1.

Figure 5 is a fragmentary side elevational view as seen from the rightside of Figure 4.

In accordance with the invention the manicure brush as a unit isgenerally indicated by reference character l0 and includes a handleelement II, a, ferrule element l2, and an applicator element Hi.

The handle element may be of any desired shape having sulficient size sothat the same may of hollow tube which frictionally engages at the upperend thereof, the lower end of the This is accomplished in a well knownmanner by compressing the upper end of the tube forming the ferrule l2about the lower end of the handle element ll.

Disposed within the lower end I6 01' the ferrule, and clamped thereby,are a plurality of bristles I! which form the applicator element l3. Asis well known in the brush art the bristles may extend up into theferrule a distance suflicient to provide adequate anchorage therefore.In order to avoid confusion when the length of the particular bristlesis referred to, the exposed length thereof is meant and the concealed oranchoring portion may be .of any suitable length. The bristles arepreferably stiff although having some resiliency and are preferablycomposed of filaments, fibres, or the like material or syntheticmaterial which is not deleteriously effected at least to any substantialextent, by immersion in the coating or lacquer material with which thepresent device is used. I

The bristles I! are arranged generally in a row or rows so that theapplicator element I3 is several times Wider than it is thick. Thus Ihave found for example, that when the distance between the longitudinaledge and the longitudinal edge 2! is five times greater than between thefront surface 22 and the rear surface 23, an applicator element ofdesirable proportions is obtained.

The bristles ll. are of varying lengths. I have found that when thelongest bristle 25 is twice the length of the distance between the edge20 and the edge .2! that the brush is capable of holding sufficientmaterial to produce satisfactory operation. The shortest bristle 26 ispreferably one-half as long as the bristle 25. The

intermediate bristles 21 are so graduated in length that their terminals28 are arranged along an arc whose radius is substantially equal to thedistance between the longest bristle 25 and the shortest bristle 2|.This are 30 enables the user to lace the terminals close to the margin3! of the cuticle 32 and by moving the device ill in a curving directiona rounded edge to the coating is produced which may align with theadjacent edge 3| of the cuticle 32.

In the use of the brush where the same is moved in a generallycounter-clockwise direction as viewed in Figure 1 to treat the righthalf of the nail 40, the coating 35 is best applied by placing the brushin the position shown in Figure 1 in which the long bristle 20 lies alonthe longitudinal aXis of the nail 40. When it is desired to coat theopposite half of the nail 40, the left half as seen in Figure 3, thebrush is rotated through 180 about the longest bristle as an axis totake the position shown in Figure 3, where upon movement of the devicein a generally clockwise direction will enable a smooth edge to beproduced in the coating 36 which will abut against the margin 3! of thecuticle 32 without smearing.

It may thus be seen that I have provided a novel and useful manicurebrush or lacquer applicator which is especially suited to the quick andaccurate coating of finger nails. Obviously where desired the samedevice may have equal effectiveness when used on the toe nails.

1' wish it to be understood that I do not desire to be limited to theexact details of construction shown and described for obvious modifica-ytions will occur to a person skilled in the art.

I claim:

A nail polish coating applicatcr, for applying coatings having curvededges, said applicator comprising: a plurality of bristles having innerand outer ends; means securing said bristles along a substantially flatrow, the bristles being in substantial parallelism, the inner ends ofthe bristles being retained by said means; the outer ends of saidbristles lying in an arc of a circle, the center of which lies on thelongest bristle, the longest bristle being the starting point of saidarcuately curved line, the shortest bristle havin a length equal to thatof the longest bristle minus the radius of said are, the free ends ofthe bristles forming an arc of degrees.

HARRY SPEARS.

REFERENCES CITED The following referenlces are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 58,417 Hickcox Oct. 2, 1866293,075 Pfeifer Feb. 5, 1884 Re. 16,869 Goldman Feb. '7, 1928 2,139,593Kohler et a1 Dec. 6, 1938 D. 121,539 Foster July 16, 1940 FOREIGNPATENTS Number Country Date 599,500 Germany July 3, 1934

